Thursday, January 22, 2015

The Speaker of the New York State Assembly Sheldon Silver Is Arrested in Corruption Case

The Number Two Man in the political establishment of New York State is charged with mail fraud, wire fraud and extortion in a five-count Federal indictment Republicans and Democrats call on Speaker Silver to step downLocally, Brooklyn State Senator Marty Golden faces a Federal investigation for many similar matters to those faced by Speaker Silver

The New York Times and several other news outlets are reporting that Sheldon Silver, Speaker of the Assembly and one of the top Democrats in New York State, is being arrested on corruption charges. “In a five-count criminal complaint outlining the charges, Mr. Silver is accused of ‘using the power and influence of his official position to obtain for himself millions of dollars of bribes and kickbacks masked as legitimate income’....” (See “Sheldon Silver, Speaker of New York Assembly, Is Arrested in Corruption Case by William K.Rashbaum, Thomas Kaplan and Susannee Craigian, 1/22/15, NY Times/ NY Region [http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/23/nyregion/speaker-of-new-york-assembly-sheldon-silver-is-arrested-in-corruption-case.html?_r=0]).

According to the report in the Times, “The powerful speaker of the New York State Assembly, Sheldon Silver, was arrested on federal corruption charges on Thursday and accused of using the power of his office to solicit millions in bribes and kickbacks, according to court documents. *** The arrest of Mr. Silver, a Democrat from the Lower East Side of Manhattan who has served as speaker for more than two decades, sent shock waves through the political establishment and upending the new legislative session. *** Mr. Silver surrendered to Federal Bureau of Investigation agents early Thursday morning in Lower Manhattan, law enforcement officials said....”

SEIZURE OF ASSETS

Federal prosecutors have seized approximately $3.8 million of Mr. Silver’s money; and Preet Bharara, United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, is expected to provide more details about the charges and other matters at a 1 p.m. news conference today.

REPUBLICANS CALL ON SILVER TO STEP DOWN IMMEDIATELY — BUT AT THE SAME TIME, THEY IGNORE SIMILAR MISDEEDS BY FELLOW REPUBLICANS

According to the New York Post, “The speaker’s arrest sent political shockwaves from Albany to New York City. *** ‘He needs to step down as speaker while the justice process takes its course,’ said Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakis (R-Staten Island [and part of Brooklyn]) *** The state Republican party wants Silver out of the Assembly now. *** ‘Sheldon Silver must immediately resign from the State Assembly,’ said NYGOP spokesman David Laska....” (See “Sheldon Silver arrested, accused of taking millions in bribes” by David K. Li, 1/22/15, NY Post/ Metro [http://nypost.com/2015/01/22/sheldon-silver-arrested/]). However, neither of those Republicans acknowledged or even seemed aware that Federal Prosecutor Preet Bharara’s office is also investigating various similar activities of prominent Republicans like NYS Senator Martin Golden, whose district overlaps with that of Ms. Malliotakis.

Meanwhile, a Democrat spokesperson said that both Speaker Silver and Republican State Senate boss Dean Skelos have allowed similar activities to flourish on both sides of the aisle.

THE MARTY GOLDEN CONNECTION

As has been often reported on this blog, the investigation of Mr. Silver picked up speed as a Federal probe after Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo abruptly shut down his own anti-corruption commission investigation in March of 2014.

Brooklyn Republican State Senator Martin Golden is right now involved in a similar Federal corruption probe that also grew out of Cuomo’s shut-down of his anti-corruption commission. Like the investigation that led to the charges against Speaker Silver, the probe of Marty Golden appears to be focused on money coming from large real estate developers. Also both Golden and Silver appear to have been instrumental in getting large tax breaks for those big developers.

7 comments:

Anonymous
said...

FYI, Jacob Gershman has tweeted that Paragraph # 41 of the Silver complaint notes that a little while after Governor Cuomo shut down his Moreland Commission investigations, on April 22, 2014 to be exact, NYS Attorney General Eric Schneiderman notified the NYS Supreme Court that he was withdrawing his Moreland Commission-related subpoenas seeking information on (WAIT FOR IT! >>>) “outside income.” - - - Don’t you know!

Why a CI? These are money cases and easily traceable. Isn't that where the idea of follow the money comes from? It should be very easy to investigate as far as a paper trail of misdeeds. I think it turns more on the courage and conviction of the one doing the investigating. Preet doesn't care. He'll take them all down.

A follow the money case is like describing a trip with only a road map. A confidential informant is also necessary to describe what is actually there when you arrive at the destinations shown on the map.

RE: THE ANONYMOUS COMMENTS ABOUT CONFIDENTIAL INFORMANTS (CIs) ABOVE — FORMER U.S. ATTORNEY TALKS ABOUT HOW “COOPERATING WITNESS" MAKES IT A STRONG CASE AGAINST SILVER

Related to a discussion of the indictment of Speaker of the Assembly Sheldon Silver is the following passage in an article from the City & State blog: “...Jennifer Rodgers, who served formerly in the Office of the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District, said that having cooperating witnesses with firsthand knowledge of any criminal conduct is always an advantage for prosecutors. *** “The complaint does reference a cooperating witness who received a non-prosecution agreement—the doctor who allegedly was benefitted by the speaker’s diverting funds to his research center he was involved with and a nonprofit in exchange for the doctor sending patients to the law firm that paid Sheldon Silver legal fees,” said Rodgers, now executive director of the Center for the Advancement of Public Integrity at Columbia Law School. “If that doctor is a cooperating witness, which the U.S. attorney says that he or she is … that’s obviously a very strong piece of evidence, because that person has firsthand knowledge of the relationship between him or her and Silver and what deal was struck and what went on there.” ( See “CORRUPTION CASE AGAINST SILVER IS STRONG, LEGAL EXPERTS SAY” by Jon Lentz, 1/22/15, City & State[http://www.cityandstateny.com/2/politics/new-york-state-articles/new-york-state-assembly/corruption-case-against-silver-is-strong%2c-legal-experts-say.html#.VMJq19LF88o]).

That certainly is a strong and direct buttress to the concept advanced by the comment makers in favor of using CIs as "Cooperating Witnesses" in the trial of corruption cases.

It seems obvious that any corruption case against elected officials and even formerly elected officials will work best if there is some kind of credible insider to explain to the jury how the corrupt scheme was intended to work.

WHAT IF MARTY GOLDEN COULD GIVE DEAN SKELOS OR SOME OTHER BIG FISH TO PREET BHARARA ? --- THAT SHOULD BE WORTH SOMETHING, RIGHT ?

Does anybody know for sure that State Senator Martin Golden's high priced criminal defense lawyers aren't trying to work out a "cooperating witness agreement" to benefit the Republican State Senator from Brooklyn.

For example, what if Marty Golden could "give" Dean Skelos to Preet Bharara ?

About Me

I formerly have commented on various political blogs concerning Republican politics. Although the focus of my political commentary has been on the Brooklyn GOP and other aspects of politics in Brooklyn, I have also posted commentary about national matters.
If you wish to contact Galewyn Massey directly, please, Email to galewynmasban@gmail.com